The Artificial Sweetener of Doom????

Drooling Fan Girl · Post by **Drooling Fan Girl** » Thu Aug 30, 2001 3:50 am

So I'm scooting around the various message boards, waisting time and such, when I read the following.
<A HREF="http://www.keenspot.com/KeenBoard/Forum ... 03574.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.keenspot.com/KeenBoard/Forum ... 74.html</A> It's going into great detail of how horrible artificial sweeteners are. People are adding all sorts of statements without any proof. You guys (gals? who can tell?) are chem grad assistants I think? Can you point me in the right direction to figure out how much of this is bunk and how much is real?Take Care & Thanks
DFG

Legolas · Post by **Legolas** » Thu Aug 30, 2001 9:05 am

The gobbledy-goop about artificial sweeteners have been going on for years. And just to make it worse, the message boxes on gum packages saying that they have been known to cause cancer in mice just increases the public's paranoia. I guess there's no scientific way of assuaging the public's fear, but I can give you an opinion from a nutritionist's point of view. To tell you the truth though, it's only been found to cause cancer in mice. Aspartame and other artificial sweeteners have not, and I repeat, not been proven to cause anything in humans. If you put a packet of Equal in your iced tea or chew on trident gum, no side effects will be experienced. Trust me on that. Yet if you heavily use artificial sweeteners all day, every day, then I advise you to make some changes your diet. Who knows what that stuff will do to you in the long run, and I don't think you would like to be the first to find out. Anyhow, moderation is the key to everything I guess. As long as you place a limit on these sweeteners, they shouldn't give you any trouble.

Drooling Fan Girl · Post by **Drooling Fan Girl** » Fri Aug 31, 2001 2:44 am

Urban legend time, eh? I had pretty much thought so, but my husband drinks a lot of the stuff and well y'know.
I think I'll simply ask 'em to provide some proof about what they're saying.Take Care
DFG

MrKraw · Post by **MrKraw** » Fri Aug 31, 2001 3:39 am

True, that. My MIL drinks 2 cases of Sam's Choice Diet Cola a week, I kid you not. She's got problems, but certainly not cancer.It's funny to see what the public will worry about though. Things that are pretty much proven to extend life(wearing seat belts, diet and exercise, not smoking) are accepted but put aside by the mass media while using some artificial sweeteners that MIGHT cause problems after you've drank a couple million cans of diet soda is considered a public health risk.*sigh*KrawDaddy out

Labgoat · Post by **Labgoat** » Fri Aug 31, 2001 7:58 am

Wow, so many good responses before I get a chance to talk about it. DFG, most of the people in the CRFH forum post were taking rumors as hard facts. I especially cringe at the "Aspartame turns into methanol, which the body turns into formaldehyde" legend. Someone there posted this link, <A HREF="http://www.acsh.org/press/editorials/He ... 12899.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.acsh.org/press/editorials/He ... 99.html</A> , it did a good job of debunking the internet hoax associated with aspartame. It's generally a good bet, if people are making outrageous claims on the internet, they're taking for fact what in reality is fiction. The idea that really upsets me, though, is that chemicals=bad. I could go on a large rant about how chemistry has improved the world in countless ways, but it'd almost always be met by someone who's crusading against some high profile chemical we use in our everyday lives. Why not tackle ethanol, or nicotine, or other truly harmful chemicals out there? Because it's much easier to mold the truth about something about which the public has little knowledge about. I'm sorry I got so uppity, but you brought a good discussion to the forum. <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/smile.gif">[This message has been edited by Labgoat (edited 08-31-2001).]

Drooling Fan Girl · Post by **Drooling Fan Girl** » Sat Sep 01, 2001 7:08 am

*snicker*
<A HREF="http://www.theclassm.com/d/19990317.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.theclassm.com/d/19990317.html</A> Take care
DFG

Legolas · Post by **Legolas** » Tue Sep 04, 2001 8:24 am

I truly do agree with our dear Labgoats moderator. It really is sad that people, upon hearing the word "chemical," conjures up images of skin-burning corrosives. In reality, not all chemicals are toxic or harmful at all. Of course, this may also mean that more people should major in chemistry; I've studied that subject area for three years now, and acids have become a common term for me. The thing is that people tend to be scared of things that they don't know for sure. Once they start to familiarize themselves with the structure of certain "harmful" chemicals, they won't seem like so much of a threat anymore. But this forum was very stimulating, as I see from the replies. I really do believe that people should talk about the dangers of let's say.....cigarettes. There are a whopping 4,000 chemicals in there, some of which, if I remember correctly, was arsenic, ammonia, and butane. There is proven fact that cigarettes causes lung cancer, yet no hard evidence that artificial sweeteners causes anything. So why focus on fake sugar? I must apologize for being so hyped up on this topic......it's those damned readings that I do in my honors classes; they just work up your brain.